F** F*** Brings down the house in Cannes with Bush bash film

I have always been in favor of gun rights and BFC just hardened that opinion.

 

I'm in favor of "gun rights" just NOT the NRA

 

BitTorrent To Release Michael Moore's New Film Free of Charge

Cannes, France /DenounceNewswire/ -- 24 May 2004 -- In a stunning move, controversial documentary filmmaker Michael Moore announced today that his latest film, "Fahrenheit 9/11", will be released by BitTorrent, the popular peer-to-peer file-sharing network.

"This film deserves the widest possible distribution," said Moore, whose film won the Palme D'Or award at the Cannes Film Festival this past weekend. "I had hoped I could achieve that with Miramax and Disney, but such was not to be the case. I'm thrilled to announce that I have an even better solution. BitTorrent!"

BitTorrent, written by programmer Bram Cohen, is a popular software application for trading movies, music, and television episodes over the Internet. BitTorrent differs from other peer-to-peer networks in that the program connects users to many different fragments of a digital file, only to be seamlessly pieced back together when the transfer is complete. The result is a much faster download and less clogging on the Internet.

"I'm very happy to be working with Michael on the release of this important documentary," said Cohen. "This is exactly the kind of thing BitTorrent was created for. I'm confident we're going to be able to reach more people faster than any conventional Hollywood distribution scheme. And it's going to cost a hell of a lot less than printing four thousand some odd prints of the film!"

The documentary, which contends that the Bush family has ties going back more than three decades with the Saudi royal family, leading to a questions about the Saudi involvement with 9/11, was originally bought by Miramax and Disney last year. Michael Eisner, head of Disney, announced recently that the company would not distribute the film due to is political content.

Cohen and Moore say that the film will be available through BitTorrent beginning July 3rd worldwide over the Internet. The film will be free.

Posted by denounce on May 25, 2004 12:26 AM

http://www.denounce.com/archives/000055.html

 

Edit: never mind.

But I bet I can get a BT copy relatively quickly....

 

I've never used BT, but I assume it's a pretty easy program to use.

 

I completely oppose gun rights.

Bowling For Columbine, however, didn't. In fact, one of Moore's most oft repeated points was that guns alone don;t explain the problem ( though I feel he was inaccurate in this) as he cited the fact that Canadians have a higher gun ownership rate than Americans, but an incredibly lower violent crime rate. People who think BFC was an appeal to ba guns made up ther mind without ever watching the film.

(The reason his point about Canada was wrong, IMO, was that Canadian privately owned guns are A) Almost entirely hunting rifles, and B) owned almost entirely by people in rural areas. If American gun control just allowed that, IMO, violent crime would be reduced significantly.)


His point was that there is something particular to America that promotes or provokes violent crime, and while he never actually defines what his answer is, it seems to be a combination of economic inequity, a media obsessed with negativity, and a commercial empire which prioritizes material gain over other social issues.

 

The Wein-ing Game

During the height of the tax shelter bonanza in Canada in the late 1970s, a prominent film producer bent my ear about an imminent film project. It was an unremarkable story and the tacit understanding was it had to be completed by the end of the year to qualify for government assistance. When he finished his detailed description, I asked him the question of the day: what were his private money sources? His physical response, to this day, remains one of the oddest in my memory bank. His face contorted into the shape of a question mark and his face and eyes slowly but purposefully began to glaze over. He appeared to have morphed into a pod person and slowly and quietly uttered that he was "exploring new methods of funding."

I can't precisely say that I immediately understood his meaning. Regardless, it did become clear to both the writer and government regulators that the private offering he put up did not conform to the rules, politely speaking. His financial exploration was deemed to have the bravura of an Indiana Jones adventure that was more suitably projected on the screen than into the Toronto Stock Exchange. His words were euphemistic and could be translated into plain speak as "what we're doing is essentially illegally and I hope we don't get caught."

The film industry is rife with questionably legal and certainly outright unethical conduct. There are countless Ponzi schemes and all manner of agent and manager that flaunt the law by asking budding talent to pay for the privilege of representation. Producers of every stripe ask writers to toil on scripts for free or a compensation fee well below guild guidelines not to mention the national minimum wage. It's an industry that ought to have an Ombudsman or several to sort out the nickel and diming that goes on in any given day in Hollywood. There's also an important slot to be filled by a Miss Manners type but that's another story altogether.

Years ago the sales agent for a film acquired by Miramax recalled being taken to lunch by Harvey and Bob Weinstein, she thought, to celebrate the success of the picture and to discuss upcoming productions. There was some cursory talk about stuff in the pipeline but she sensed another agenda and the brothers were fumbling about bringing it up for discussion. Finally, Harvey made a peep that they had something to tell her and it was important that she hear them out in total. He began by informing her that the box office figures they had been reporting to the trades were significantly inflated - routinely 10% to 20% greater than the actual gross - and at this late date in the run that meant considerably more than $1 million in non-existent revenues.

The sales agent felt herself stifling a scream and clamping down hard on the sides of her chair. Just shy of the bursting point, Bob Weinstein - perhaps sensing an imminent eruption - held up his hand. He told her that there was a reason behind the false reporting and that she in no way should have to suffer their exaggeration. The company would accordingly pay overages based upon the reported numbers and not the true figures. She was surprised and to this day somewhat perplexed that they felt compelled to reveal the indiscretion.

The incident occurred at a time when Miramax was struggling to balance its books and well before the Walt Disney Company bailed it out from financial catastrophe. There would be other dilemmas, principally near bankruptcy despite the seeming salvation of its then greatest box office success, The Crying Game. The Oscar contender directed by Neil Jordan had grossed in excess of $60 million in North America back in 1992 and, on the books, Miramax had deals with film exhibitors that translated into rentals of at least $30 million. But unlike the majors it had no leverage to collect. Its upcoming slate was absent obvious commercial films that would have allowed it to say pay up or you wouldn't get …

Miramax was caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place. It had a theoretic asset of $30 million. However, the brothers were well aware that once it came time to do settlements, the distributors would play hardball and offer them 30 cents on the dollar. In a twinkling, the worth of the company would diminish by more than $10 million. It's an on-going indie headache most recently experienced by such commercial phenomena as My Big Fat Greek Wedding and The Passion of the Christ. Whereas Warner Bros. has a stream of seemingly potent titles including the new Harry Potter and Catwoman lined up behind Troy, Newmarket's cudgel against stingy theater owners is the Danish black comedy The Green Butchers and John Sayles' political satire Silver City starring Chris Cooper and an intriguing but not commercially potent acting ensemble.

The oft-mentioned golden rule in the movie industry is: He who has the gold, makes the rules. It may or may not be, strictly speaking, legal and it unquestionably runs fast and loose with the oxymoronic business ethics.

When the posting of estimated weekend box office became a popular sport and not simply the front page of Variety and the Hollywood Reporter, many in the industry quickly grasped that there was a spin potential in the reported numbers. Some of the majors and indies were very clever about pumping up figures; others had the sort of "tell" equivalent to Pinocchio's nose when reporting; and still others saw no point in being anything other than humanly accurate. Over at Disney, Michael Eisner walked over to the distribution department and decreed that because it was a publicly traded company and under the scrutiny of the Securities and Exchange Commission, anyone knowingly reporting exaggerated estimates would be fired. There was no wiggle room for discussion in this area.

Several years later when Miramax inflated its opening weekend of Scream 2 by about $6 million, Eisner called Harvey Weinstein and told him he should inform the media of the mistake. He gave him a deadline and advised him that he would issue a statement if Harvey didn't. The message was clear that the Disney CEO would not mince words about the error. Weinstein met the deadline.

There have been other tussles between the two men in the years since Eisner's lieutenant Jeff Katzenberg convinced him to acquire Miramax, assume its debt and do only the most glancing due diligence of its books. The debt was considerable - more than 50% greater than initially anticipated. However, within a year, the company's acquisition of the TriStar/Jersey Films project Pulp Fiction in turnaround resulted in erasing the red ink. The Weinstein stewardship of Miramax has been generally profitable and prestigious over the years and that combination has afforded them considerable latitude.

Still, Eisner doesn't tiptoe when entering into their domain. He pulled the plug on their magazine venture Talk, put budget caps on their financial exposure in such high ticket ventures as the Gangs of New York and Cold Mountain and on a couple of occasions vetoed their distribution of controversial movies. Several years back he forced them to sell off the domestic rights of the religious satire Dogma and, separately, the modern youth oriented spin on Othello titled simply O. Now the Weinsteins have been given similar marching orders in regard to Michael Moore's political documentary Fahrenheit 9/11. Since that order came down, the film has played the Cannes film festival and has been awarded that event's highest honor. But while there's been considerable interest in North American distribution rights, mysteriously an arrangement hasn't coalesced though sources continue to claim an announcement is days away.

While the media has made a feast of the situation both for assumed political biases and as yet another example of Eisner's failing business acumen, the deal itself has been given short shrift. Within the acquisitions community its been well voiced that the arrangement the Weinstein's want to hammer out provides the buyer with more prestige than profit potential.

One of the deal points is that Fahrenheit 9/11 receive an initial domestic theatrical release during the July 4th holiday weekend. Because of the rapid turnaround no one expects more than exclusive or semi-exclusive runs in New York and Los Angeles and while several screens are being held in anticipation (for now) of that, obviously no formal arrangements can be masw until a rights holder is in place. It's assumed that Miramax has prepared ad materials and theatrical trailers that will be turned over to whoever winds up with the film's theatrical distribution. Still, reps of several companies on the short list insist they've yet to see anything and pray those elements are adequate as it would be impossible to create a campaign whole cloth in a little more than a month when the film is supposed to open. At least, as with The Passion of the Christ, the current controversy and the Cannes exposure has provided the film with millions of dollars of free publicity that has heightened general awareness and interest in seeing the film.

But the big sticking point right now centers on Eisner's effort to hammer out a clause in the brother's currently being negotiated personal contract that would spell out a course of action when a similar situation occurs (as it most certainly will) in the future, before he signs off on the deal for Fahrenheit 9/11. This kind of contractual adjustment would normally involve weeks or months of proposals and counter proposals but right now there's a very loud ticking clock involved. Eisner knows it and is applying the heat, perhaps also banking on Miramax preferring that Michael Moore not know they are risking his release date in a game of chicken over profits.

From Eisner's perspective, one has to wonder what's being conveyed when the Weinstein's wrists are being slapped for defying his edict about getting involved with Moore's picture and in the process making a personal profit as they divest all outward appearances of an already well documented stewardship. There is a disconnect involved that's as egregious as an executive with stock options pumping up a company's market value but not enhancing the quality of its product.

The Mouseketeer Mutineers of Miramax made a tidy personal profit from their ownership of Dogma and O and, no doubt, based upon those experiences had an even better idea of how to structure favorable deals on Fahrenheit 9/11. For both personal gain and to make a broader statement, they would ideally like to secure separate deals with different companies in each of the major revenue streams - theatrical, pay-cable, video, free TV and other miscellaneous areas. In their way is Eisner's current demand that part of the condition of the buy back be that domestic rights in all areas of exploitation be sold off rather than leased for a period of time.

There's also finally a degree of hypocrisy in the whole affair as Disney will see a tidy amount of money from the arrangement. In addition to the sum that the Weinsteins must pay to take ownership of domestic rights, there will be considerable lucre involved from the picture's foreign sales and revenues. The film is being handled internationally by the Paris-based company Wild Bunch with a percentage of the revenues flowing back to Miramax
and Disney.

Of course, a hundred years from now the tawdry machinations, egos and baser instincts behind the scenes in the making of Fahrenheit 9/11 will be a footnote and the film will stand or fall on its resonant qualities. For the moment it is a political touchstone sullied in part by less than altruistic agendas.

- by Leonard Klady

 

When I had dinner with Moore in Austin last year he said to me that the entire Charlton Heston interview wasn't a planned scene.

One day while filming, an intern in the crew jokingly suggested they should go interview Heston himself.. all they needed to get was a star map..

Everyone got a laugh, but that was not the end of the joke.. it kept growing and growing as an idea amongst the crew.. but Moore did NOT want to do it.

Eventually Mike cracked just to get his whiny young crew members to shut up.. Moore went out and bought a star map.. followed the map to Heston's "house" and then rang the doorbell, completely skeptic and not expecting Heston to live there, let alone answer.

To his surprise, Heston answered.. Moore didn't know what to say.. so all he could do was ask for an interview in a fumbling way.. an even bigger surprise, Heston granted him his wish..

Moore said he and his crew went back to their hotel that night and threw together a bunch of questions to make a half-assed version of an interview to give heston the next morning.

After the interview, Moore said that Heston locked the front gates of his compound and wouldn't let him leave. Fearing Heston had called the police, Moore and his cameraman threw the film and footage over the fence to their crew waiting outside and told them to haul ass back to the hotel. About 20-30 minutes later the gates opened, and they were allowed to leave.


I don't guess this answers your question of WHY Heston did the interview, but it helped authenticate it for me, and I hope it does for you.

 

I take it that the denounce site is like the onion dot com and that the bittorrent distribution thing is not true.
**********
Movie Industry Stunned By Latest Moore Move


Dear DENOUNCE reader:
For the first time since DENOUNCE was created 24 years ago, I am interrupting this article to make sure readers understand that articles posted at DENOUNCE are not real: they're fake news, posted as satire, parody, humor, or plausible outcomes. Over the past 48 hours, links have been going out all over the world to people who are finding this story and treating it as if it were real. It's not. It was never published as being real.
I had hoped that traffic would die down and DENOUNCE could go back to its quiet 20000-pageviews-a-month routine, but this Moore article simply won't die, and link traffic is GROWING rather than shrinking.

So, in the interests of clarifying that this article is not and was never intended to be a hoax, I'm posting this disclaimer right at the top so you will see it. If you still don't see it, then go see an eye doctor.

Enjoy the rest of the site while you're here. This article in particular is one many have enjoyed.

Signed,
The DENOUNCE Editor


Cannes, France /DenounceNewswire/ -- 24 May 2004 -- In a stunning move, controversial documentary filmmaker Michael Moore announced today that his latest film, "Fahrenheit 9/11", will be released by BitTorrent, the popular peer-to-peer file-sharing network.

"This film deserves the widest possible distribution," said Moore, whose film won the Palme D'Or award at the Cannes Film Festival this past weekend. "I had hoped I could achieve that with Miramax and Disney, but such was not to be the case. I'm thrilled to announce that I have an even better solution. BitTorrent!"

BitTorrent, written by programmer Bram Cohen, is a popular software application for trading movies, music, and television episodes over the Internet. BitTorrent differs from other peer-to-peer networks in that the program connects users to many different fragments of a digital file, only to be seamlessly pieced back together when the transfer is complete. The result is a much faster download and less clogging on the Internet.

"I'm very happy to be working with Michael on the release of this important documentary," said Cohen. "This is exactly the kind of thing BitTorrent was created for. I'm confident we're going to be able to reach more people faster than any conventional Hollywood distribution scheme. And it's going to cost a hell of a lot less than printing four thousand some odd prints of the film!"

The documentary, which contends that the Bush family has ties going back more than three decades with the Saudi royal family, leading to a questions about the Saudi involvement with 9/11, was originally bought by Miramax and Disney last year. Michael Eisner, head of Disney, announced recently that the company would not distribute the film due to is political content.

Cohen and Moore say that the film will be available through BitTorrent beginning July 3rd worldwide over the Internet. The film will be free.

Posted by denounce on May 25, 2004 12:26 AM


link

 

you really are missing out, Roger and Me is a great documentary, but YOU are too biased, not the films moore makes.


you haven't seen them! none of you have seen this movie yet!

i just don't get it

 

Moore's films not biased?! Put down the crackpipe and step away....

 

I liked Roger and Me as well as Bowling forColumbine and liked them both. Aside from the interview with Heston, I don't see what the gun advocates have against BFC. That movie was far more critical of the media than guns.

 

Which ones have you watched all the way through?

Just curious.

 

I'd go a step further; I had no problem, no problem at all with his interview of Heston until he started that idiotic whining towards the end about the girl's picture. That was stupid. But before that the interview was fairly light, IMO, and considering Heston;s position as head of an organization, and that Moore is part of that organization, it was hardly an ambush.


Also, while I can understand saying that X film doesn't appeal to you without seeing it, isn't making accusations and judgement's about it's content without having seen it a tad...uh...prejudicial, in a literal sense? Isn't it an indication of the exact same kind of mindset many of those same critics are saying Moore hopes to promote?

 

put in the videocassette and press "play"

not until you see the work can you criticize something.

those are the rules!

 

I haven't seen Moore's film but it's probably not as partisan as this:
http://www.blackstarsblog.com/bushin41point2.swf

 

None. I got through 30 minutes of Bowling for Columbine before I said "No mas." I have better, more productive things to do with my time than listen to his socialist propaganda. This guy hates capitalism, hates everything this country stands for and yet......so many people of your idelogical stripe worship him? He's so ignorant on the issues of our time it is hilarious and if not for a left-leaning media playing up his every move, this b*stard wouldn't make dollar one with his assassination pieces masked as cinema. He couldn't tell the truth if he had a gun to his head. He's a venomous, disgusting pig who unfortunately represents the mainstream of the American left and proof they have departed the ranks of the sane (as he clearly has).

So keep making your stupid movies, Michael Moore. Keep showing the true colors of the American left. In that respect, you're doing the population a service.

So if you want to see Moore's "documentary" sliced to tiny ribbons with the amazing laser called the truth, look here.

 

IMO, if people were allowed to protect themselves as the constitution gives them the power to do so the terrorists on 9/11 wouldn't had made it to the cockpit. There comes a time when big government has to stop treating people like children and have enough respect for its citizens so they can make their own decisions.

God bless Michael Moore, but he's wrong here.